As I prepare new and improved questions for my group interviews next week I can't help but address the common theme that keeps emerging... fun! Some of my students say that it is fun, others say that ONLY spelling is fun. The point of my new reading choice board was to make reading just as fun as spelling was. I realized that I wasn't hitting that target a few weeks back when I had a student suggest to do reading homework on a TV show. (I hope you're laughing at that one!) I set out to find help on the topic of fun homework and see if anyone else had found anything out.
In my search, I found Bailey et al. (2011) who stated that they sent homework activity choices home in their weekly newsletter. They offered leveled option in efforts to differentiate the activities and it involved choice as well (so the parents chose the level/activity to complete with their child). After this was implemented, they sent surveys home to parents. Bailey et al. (2011) reported three themes that were found from the parent surveys "parents and students enjoyed being given choices in homework. Second, half of the surveys reflected that they were very satisfied with the homework. Third, half of the surveys reflected a desire to have traditional worksheet-based homework" (p. 42).
What the research tells me though, is that it might be more beneficial to supply such a list for my families, of suggested activity choices. This study was done with kindergartners so it would look quite different in a third grade class, but I think there is something to be said for homework bringing families together. That was actually one of my questions on my parent questionnaire. I gave the statement "Due to the change in the homework policy, I have had more quality time with my child after school." 67% of the parents either strongly agreed or agreed with that statement. I also commented in my last post about a student who stated that he did not like doing homework because he would like to spend more time with his dad. This could be another avenue to explore in my future homework endevours?!
Bailey, J.P., Godbey, R., & Pertl-Clark, A. (2011). Hooray for homework: Making homework fun!. The California Reader, 44(3), 38-45.
2 comments:
Yes, it could be a possible new endeavor. :) The author you quoted provides great examples of what you could do. I also liked the idea of giving choices in the newsletters that are sent home. I guess the traditional worksheets could be one of the choices. Did the author talk about any length of time given to complete the homework?
I think it would be really interesting to include choices in the newsletters. I would like to see the difference it would make depending on the socio economic status of the families as well. Would this be difficult for the families that work late and their children go to an afterschool program/ day care? I know the students in Dixie's after school program have homework time immediately after snack. How would this work for these students?
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